The present invention is directed to a shipping container apparatus such as is used for the transportation of consumer goods such as are sold in grocery stores, that is, relatively small items which are shipped and displayed in quantity, and are provided with their own individual labeled containers.
Such consumer goods, which may be as diverse as laundry detergent, breakfast cereals, packaged diapers, and the like, are typically shipped in substantially conventional corrugated paperboard boxes having generally rectangular cross-sections. Such boxes have typically conventional closure flaps which are glued or stapled shut. When such a container is received by an establishment, such as a grocery store, the container is usually opened in a destructive manner, either by cutting, or by brute force ripping open of the container. The result of either method is that the shipping container may be substantially destroyed, has no further utility, and/or may be discarded. The goods are withdrawn from the container, and typically stacked onto conventional store shelving or displays.
It has also become common for storage and display space in such vendor locations to be in short supply, from time to time, prompting the proprietors to be forced to simply stand such cut-open shipping containers, containing the goods, in the aisles, with only the tops open.
It would be desirable to provide a way to reduce the amount of waste which is inherent in the destructive opening of the shipping containers for such goods.
It would additionally be desirable to enable the shipping containers for such goods to have enhanced or lengthened utility.
It would be still further desirable to package and ship such goods to vendors in such a manner as to enhance their attractiveness to such as goods which such vendors would wish to carry.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a shipping container for consumer goods which can be opened by a vendor in a non-destructive manner.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a shipping container which has utility beyond merely serving as a shipping container, upon receipt at a vendor destination.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a shipping container, which can be converted upon opening, into a display apparatus for the goods contained therein, and which, when stacked atop other similar, unopened containers, can be displayed in a vending establishment without need for special display structures and without utilizing the vending establishment's regular display space.
These and other objects of the invention will become apparent in light of the present specification, claims and drawings.